The pony car wars are heating up! The Camaro has been outselling the Mustang recently, but the new 2011 Mustang will be getting a nice engine upgrade from Ford’s Brook Park plant in Ohio.
Ford Motor Co. will make a new 3.7-liter V-6 engine for the popular Mustang sports car at Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1 in Brook Park next year, replacing an engine built in Germany.
The new engine, similar to one built in Lima for use in the Lincoln MKS luxury car, should go into production next year to be ready for 2011 Mustang production, said Mark Payne, vice president of the United Auto Workers Local 1250 in Brook Park.
Ford says the new engine will be more fuel-efficient and more powerful than the 4-liter V-6 it replaces. That engine, built in Cologne, Germany, produces 210 horsepower and gets 26 mpg on the highway. The upcoming 3.7-liter engine produces 305 horsepower and should get up to 30 mpg on the highway. Those power numbers are only a little bit shy of the 4.6-liter V-8 now offered in the Mustang.
“Mustang is completely transformed with this new engine,” Ford product development chief Derrick Kuzak said in a news release. “Everything people love about the car is still there, and now under the hood is a V-6 engine that uses premium technology to deliver the power, the feel, the fuel efficiency, even the sound of the best sports coupes in the world.”
Ford will showcase the 2011 Mustang this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
What’s good for Mini is good for Ford, right? Hold on. While the 2011 Ford Fiesta on sale this spring won’t range from $20,000 to $30,000+, it easily will stretch into four-cylinder Fusion territory thanks to a long list of gee-whiz features that don’t come with the base model.
